Government Reorganization in the Dark

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER is suing the Office of Management and Budget for the submissions made by the public in response to an executive order signed by President Trump in March and ensuing guidance from OMB. According to PEER (as reported by Government Executive) Mick Mulvaney, the OMB director, made a YouTube video inviting American citizens to weigh in with ideas for “making the federal government more efficient, effective and accountable to the American people.” The video was implemented through a May 15, 2017 Federal Register notice inviting public comment on improvements to the organization and functioning of the Executive Branch.

OMB subsequently set up a website for the public to submit those ideas, with comments due by June 12th. OMB has averred that it had received more than 100,000 submissions and distributed them to relevant agencies. The website is not to be found — although it is a federal record; the link takes one to the bare bones OMB site.1

As Government Executive reported in December, agencies first turned in rough drafts of their plans to OMB in April, which were not made public. Efforts by Government Executive to obtain copies through Freedom of Information Act requests were denied, with the administration citing the deliberative process to prevent their release.

Agencies were required to turn in the final drafts of their reorganization plans in September 2017. Those submissions, according to guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget in April, were required to include both short and long-term plans to cut the size of their workforces. As Government Executive noted in the December article, those plans have remained a secret, with administration officials saying they would only be made public when the White House releases its fiscal 2019 budget.

In a December 19, 2017 letter to OMB Director Mulvaney, Representative Elijah Cummings told the Director that, as he knows,2 the Oversight and Government Reform Committee (on which he is the Ranking Member) has oversight of the federal workforce and therefore of the agency reform plans. Mr. Cummings told Government Executive that such reforms should take place in full view of the public and with proper oversight.

Cummings asked for the documents by January 3; OMB did not respond to an inquiry on whether it would meet Cummings’ request.

A panel of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has held two hearings to examine the reorganization plans. OMB declined to testify at both of those hearings, telling the subcommittee it was too early to offer its thoughts to Congress. Instead, leaders from various agencies gave broad outlines of their goals going into the process. According to Government Executive, federal employee representatives and some lawmakers bemoaned the lack of transparency in the reorganization process, including a failure to include ideas from front-line personnel.

1 If I manage to unearth the site, I will post the information.2 As a previous Member of Congress, if nothing else.

2 thoughts on “Government Reorganization in the Dark”

[…] agenda, released this week, also promised more details on the overhauls in the coming months. See Government Reorganization in the Dark for a discussion of how OMB has been hiding that information and has been sued for […]